


Ashes Refuse to Stay Ashes

by Saphworks



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (Again kinda), ??????? - Freeform, Action/Adventure, Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Angst and Humor, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Dead Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), Dead TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Gen, Mental Health Issues, No Romance, Redemption????, Resurrection, Supernatural Elements, Tommy is dead crabrave, Violence, i mean kinda???, like if Minecraft was sci-fi, role reversal is so sexy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29910534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saphworks/pseuds/Saphworks
Summary: Dream brings Wilbur back, leaving Tommy trapped in the afterlife with one of the people he hates most.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot, Clay | Dream & Wilbur Soot, Clay | Dream & Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, Jschlatt & TommyInnit, Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 89





	Ashes Refuse to Stay Ashes

Wilbur’s eyes popped open, being met with a smooth ceiling of obsidian. He felt the warm ground thrum beneath his fingertips, sweat already beginning to drip down the side of his forehead. He sat up, rolling his shoulders back and listening to the harsh pops in his back and neck.

_God it was great to be back._

He smirked, turning his head to the left to see Dream casually leaning against the back wall of the cramped cell, arms crossed over his chest with an evil glint in his eyes. He had lost the ridiculous mask he had always insisted on wearing, revealing a gnarly scar that stretched from the inner corner of his left eye, across his nose and onto his right cheek. Wilbur was surprised to learn that the man had freckles, the innocence of them not making sense with his ragged look.

He wore a dull orange jumper, the number _001_ printed on the left breast pocket. His hair now reached past his shoulders, evidence of the time that had passed in Pandora’s box. It didn’t seem to be as long as he’d thought it would be, but Wilbur assumed his perception of time was rather fucked.

“It’s always been a pleasure doing business with you, Wilbur,” Dream said, the smugness in his voice barely contained.

Wilbur rolled his eyes, “I see prison hasn’t made you any less of a cocky bastard.”

He stood, brushing his clothes off despite there being no dirt on them. He wore the same thing he had when he’d died, even the hole was still present in the front of his shirt from where Phil had stabbed him. The thick trench coat was already making him overheat, he shrugged it off onto the floor, now wearing only the thin grey t-shirt he wore underneath. 

“Is that any way to talk to the person who just brought you back from the dead?” Dream asked, a subtle warning hidden underneath his playful tone.

“Yeah, yeah. Now how long have I actually been gone?” Wilbur asked, cutting straight to the chase.

“Just short of 4 months.” Dream answered, not missing a beat, “We’ll get to that later, right now our main priority is getting out of here.”

“What did you have on you when you died?” he asked finally, not giving Wilbur a moment to process. He was grateful for it, Schlatt had been an awful companion while he was dead. Dream’s style of conversation was much more suited to him, he cut to the chase and didn’t allow any time for Wilbur to feel anything. All that existed right now was escape.

Wilbur swiped his hand down, a hologram of his items appearing in front of him, visible only to his eyes.

Quickly scanning through the rows of items before him, he tapped against the image of a single piece of bread, the item now appearing in his hand. He tossed it over to Dream as he continued to scan through.

“Eat up while I take inventory, raw potatoes are disgusting,” he said, glancing briefly toward the pile of them in the corner, eyes full of disdain as if the food had personally wronged him.

“Surprisingly, I had a lot,” Wilbur began, “Not a lot of food and no armor, but about half a stack of iron, a shield, arrows, ender pearls, along with a few diamond tools,” he finished, finally turning to Dream who was picking the bread apart, “Everything else is completely random and most likely utterly useless.”

“You got a diamond pick?” Dream asked.

Wilbur nodded, pulling it out of his hotbar. It still had around half of its durability.

Dream smiled widely, “Perfect,” he breathed.

“This wall behind me is the only one that doesn't have lava right outside of it, I’d guess it’s about 15 layers of obsidian thick,” he said, tapping his foot against the wall he still leaned against, “The alarm won’t trigger until we break the blackstone on the very outside, and Sam’s still a mess about Tommy. We should have enough time to get far enough away before they start looking for me.”

“You don’t have a tracker or anything right?” Wilbur asked. Dream snorted.

“‘Course not. Place is supposed to be inescapable and Sam’s too confident in his abilities as the warden to bother with one, thinks it’s a waste of resources,” Dream moved away from the wall, motioning for Wilbur to begin digging them out.

Wilbur now wore an evil smile of his own, the similarity uncanny to Dream’s expression.

He stepped forward and swung, a heavy clang ringing through the cell as diamond met obsidian, sparks flying across the smooth black surface.

Two of the most dangerous people in this world’s history were now working together, and if anyone thought all hell had broken loose before, this was certain to be armageddon.

* * *

Tommy’s eyes peered through the thick blackness that surrounded them, struggling to sit still. 

“I know you’re fucking thinking about moving again,” a voice piped up, Schlatt.

Tommy groaned irritatedly, knowing the ass was right but finding him obnoxious nonetheless. He’d been like this since he’d arrived in... whatever the fuck this place was. All mellow and shit, acting like he’d changed. At first, Tommy had purposely tried to provoke a reaction out of him, taking on his usual persona and yelling at the top of his lungs.

The entire time Schlatt had just floated there, not even opening his eyes as he sat cross-legged. The first time he’d even acknowledged Tommy was to tell him to quiet down, insisting that the noise was interrupting his counting.

That was another strange thing. Schlatt had become _obsessed_ with counting every single passing second. He’d had no idea why, until he quickly realized that time didn’t exactly work the same in this place. 

“Was not,” Tommy mumbled in response to Schlatt’s scolding, “I’m meditating and shit.”

He could feel the eyeroll from where he was sitting, the same quiet annoyance just as present as the first day Tommy had shown up.

He missed Wilbur. Not whoever he had ran into briefly here, the man who couldn’t care less about Tommy’s wellbeing, intent on joining the man who had killed him. He missed the man who’d been like an older brother to him, the one he would’ve fought countless wars for. Tommy had realized that man was dead long before Wilbur himself had passed, he had starved in a ravine, driven mad by his own expectations.

Tommy wanted to hate Schlatt, but he seemed so deflated. Gone was the person who had risen to power and banished him, menacing and unforgiving. In his place was the Schlatt that sat next to him, the only word Tommy could even think to describe him as was exhausted.

Even after death, dark bags were heavy underneath his eyes, formerly polished suit now dirty and tie askew. He didn’t have the energy to hate him anymore, even if he still acted like it.

Tommy sat with his elbows resting against his knees, fist against his cheek and bored out of his mind.

Across from him, Schlatt’s eyes shot open. Tommy was surprised to see them glowing with a faint blue light, the sight mildly terrifying as he suddenly seemed full of energy.

“Good news Tommy,” Schlatt smiled wide, “We’ll be headed back soon.”

After all, every story needs a hero and a villain. Who’s to say which is which?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if I want to make this into a full story so consider this like a teaser or trailer thing. Let me know in the comments if you'd be interested in seeing this be continued in the future :] Also check out my twitter @saphworks since I give more consistent updates on when stuff is gonna be posted. And of course check out my other fics if you enjoyed


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